Anime Vice News

MICHIKO & HATCHIN #5 - - Watch & Learn

Stop using sex as a weapon!

I’m actually a little amused over how Michiko’s
role in this criminal underworld is rather vague. She doesn’t seem like a loan
shark, or a hit man, or a dealer, or even a snitch - - so I guess she’s just supposed
to a general-purpose lowlife?

Considering how she’s drunk, hung over and/or
stoned pretty much all the time, there’s an added level of entertainment to “reading”
this vagueness as her being just too out of it to understand what her role is,
either. The same thoughtless impulsiveness that serves her so well when the
goons try to shake her down in the flashback also rather hilariously backfires
when she takes the same approach on the “mob negotiation” in the beginning. Her
success rate, and her place in the general scheme, really does seem to come down to arbitrary coin flips.

I read somewhere that our titular leads
are actually voiced by two of the biggest actresses in Japan. Not strictly
voice actresses - - actresses, period. The difference certainly shows, as this
one of those rare subs where you legitimately feel like you’re hearing good
acting. Even when you have absolutely no idea what anybody’s saying, you can
still feel the emotion they’re expressing (right in your gut, man!).

I
don’t know as much about the economics of anime production as I’d like to, but I’d
be really curious to see what external factors might account for how high the
budget on this show has got to be. As I’ve said, the animation’s feature-level
quality, and I’d have to think that famous live-action actresses would carry
bigger fees than those who strictly do V.O. Both of those ingredients, on their own, should drive cost up, right?

Would any of you more learned lunatics
care to enlighten me?

Watch this episode, "The Saudade of Fools, Parte 1" here and decide for yourself,
then read my comments on the previous episode here.

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number
of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - -tompinchuk.com- - and follow his Twitter:@tompinchuk

As I’ve said, the animation’s feature-level quality, and I’d have to think that famous live-action actresses would carry bigger fees than those who strictly do V.O. Both of those ingredients, on their own, should drive cost up, right?